Is Merit in the Milk Powder? Pursuing<i>Puñña</i>in contemporary Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abstract This article examines merit making in contemporary Sri Lankan practice. Exploring the role of emotions, most generally defined as "happiness in the heart/mind," in this important Buddhist activity, this article seeks not only to move beyond a more mechanical view of merit making as generalized exchange, but also to introduce an affective quality to the notion of intention (cetanā). Finally, this article questions the tendency to judge Buddhist behavior and appearance solely against the norms set forth in the Buddhist monastic code by investigating how people's histories, experiences, and backgrounds shape their own understandings of who constitutes an ideal monastic. Acknowledgements An earlier version of this article was presented at the South Asia Seminar Series, University of Texas, Austin. The author would like to thank those who attended for encouraging me to think in new directions. The author would particularly like to thank Oliver Freiberger, Janice Leoshko, Lester Kurtz, and Patrick Olivelle for their suggestions and valuable insights. The author would also like to express appreciation toward Kate Crosby and Jonathan Walters for their remarks as well as Benedicte Bossut for her comments—both substantive and editorial. Notes 1. The 10 wholesome actions that are said to accrue merit are: (1) giving (dāna), (2) being morally upright (sīla), (3) meditating (bhāvanā), (4) giving/transferring merit (patti ), (5) rejoicing in the merit of others (pattānumodanā), (6) rendering service (to others) (veyyāvacca), (7) honoring others (apacāya), (8) preaching (desanā), (9) listening (to the teachings) (suti), and (10) having correct views (di hiju). 2. Similar discussions of the pre-eminence of giving in making merit is found in Tambiah (1970 Tambiah, S. J. 1970. Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-East Thailand, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar], 148), Keyes (1983 Keyes, C. F. 1983. "Merit-transference in the Kammic theory of popular Theravada Buddhism". In Karma: An anthropological inquiry, Edited by: Keyes, C. F. and Daniels, E. V. 261–86. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Google Scholar], 274), and Spiro (1982 Spiro, M. E. 1982. Buddhism and society: A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes, 2nd ed., Berkeley: University of California Press. (Originally published 1970) [Google Scholar], 103). 3. See note 18 below for an interesting interpretation of this commonly held view. 4. Although some scholarship on giving has made reference to the emotions, those discussions have centered primarily on the wholesome activity of rejoicing in the merit of others (pattānumodanā). 5. As in several other Asian contexts (Brown 2001 Brown, S. 2001. The journey of one Buddhist nun: Even against the wind, Albany: State University of New York Press. [Google Scholar], 9), the term hita is most appropriately translated as heart/mind. While this term, which is quite pervasive in the daily conversations of monks and lay people, may be translated as mind, I was told by most of my informants that the English term mind is too limited. When I began asking lay people and monks to show me their hita, many of them, after first pointing to their heart, pointed to their head, indicating both its emotional and cognitive function. While the term hita—which refers to something quite different from the Sinhala terms for mind (manasa, mana, or mana ) and heart (hada, hadavata, or hr aya)—sometimes appears in phrases that would warrant 'mind' as a more appropriate translation (such as to cultivate or develop the hita [hita vä enewa] or to think (hitanavā/sitanavā), in other contexts (e.g. feeling hurt [hita ridenavā]; feeling broken, as in a broken heart [hita binduna]; feeling happy or glad [hitē satu a]; or falling for something attractive, such as falling in love [hita vetuna]), the term hita may be more appropriately translated as 'heart'. This dual function of hita may point back to Indian conceptions of the mind as being located in the heart. I would like to thank Patrick Olivelle for bringing this to my attention. 6. This point is raised in Philip Almond's Almond, P. C. 1988. The British discovery of Buddhism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] The British Discovery of Buddhism (1988 Almond, P. C. 1988. The British discovery of Buddhism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 37; see also Collins 1998 Collins, S. 1998. Nirvana and other Buddhist felicities: Utopias of the Pali Imaginaire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 56) where he writes that: 'Buddhism had become by the middle of the nineteenth century a textual object based in Western institutions. Buddhism as it came to be ideally spoken of through the editing, translating, and studying of its ancient texts could then be compared with its contemporary appearance in the Orient. And Buddhism, as it could be seen in the East, compared unfavorably with its ideal textual exemplifications contained in the libraries, universities, colonial offices, and missionary societies of the West. It was possible then, as a result of this, to combine a positive evaluation of a Buddhism textually located in the West with a negative evaluation of its Eastern instances.' 7. Steven Kemper (1978 Kemper, S. 1978. "Buddhism without Bhikkhus: The Sri Lanka Vinaya Vardena society". In Religion and legitimation of power in Sri Lanka, Edited by: Smith, Bardwell L. 212–35. Chambersburg: Anima Books. [Google Scholar], 213) raises this point in his article on the Vinaya Vardhana Society, where he writes: 'In the end Gombrich's stance is an "outside" one. What finally interests him is an Indological question: can current precepts be judged to be consistent with commentatorial Buddhism and thus be called orthodox … [which] he appraises … not in terms of his informants' sense of the religion but in terms of his own acute knowledge of the Pāli texts.' In another of his articles (1971a), Gombrich is equally concerned with deducing the degree to which Buddhist practices, in this case merit transference, correspond to canonical Buddhism. For a different stance regarding how best to make sense of this important Buddhist ritual, see Keyes (1983 Keyes, C. F. 1983. "Merit-transference in the Kammic theory of popular Theravada Buddhism". In Karma: An anthropological inquiry, Edited by: Keyes, C. F. and Daniels, E. V. 261–86. Berkeley: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]). 8. Although I will in the remainder of this article complicate somewhat Gombrich's understanding of cetanā as intentionality, it is important to note that his view of the role that intention plays in merit-making is consonant with many sections of the Pāli canonical texts. In the Sa yutta Nikāya (I.32), for instance, we read that when a person gives with faith and with a purified mind, then food accrues to that one [who gives], both in this world and the next (ye na dadanti saddhāya vippasannena cetasā, tameva anna bhajati asmi loke parambhi ca). Although this passage points to the need for acts of giving to be accompanied by a pure mind and thoughts of faith, other passages in the canon point to a much wider range of factors that affect merit. In the Dīgha Nikāya (II.357), for example, we read not only that giving without a sense of respect bears little fruit, but also that one should give with proper care, with one's hands, with proper respect, and with attention ('sakkacca dāna detha, sahatthā dāna detha, cittikata dāna detha, anapaviddha dāna detha'). In the A guttara Nikāya (III.415), for example, not only do we find a statement that intention is karma (literally: I call intention, oh monks, karma [cetanāha bhikkhave kamma vadāmi]) but also (III.172) that a good person should give with faith (saddhāya dānam deti), carefully (sakkaccam dānam deti), at the proper time (kālena dānam deti), with an unconstrained mind (anuggahitacitto dānam deti), and without hurting oneself or others (attānañ ca parañ ca anupahacca dānam deti). Finally, in the Majjhima Nikāya (III.24) we find a passage about how a good person gives gifts carefully, with his hands, with respect, with purity (of mind), and with a view that something will come (of it) ('sappuriso sakkacca dāna deti, sahatthā dāna deti, cittīkatvā dāna deti, parisuddha dāna deti, āgamanadi hiko dāna deti. Eva kho bhikkhave, sappuriso sappurisadāna deti'). All translations of Pāli and Sinhala phrases are mine unless otherwise noted. 9. In the following chapter, Gombrich (1971b Gombrich, R. 1971b. Precept and practice: Traditional Buddhism in the rural highlands of Ceylon, Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Google Scholar], 46) similarly writes: 'Buddhist doctrine agrees with Kant that what counts is intention, not effect … Karma is nothing more or less than intention (cētanāva)'. 10. The same two factors—the size of the gift and the spiritual recipient—are also discussed in Melford Spiro's (1982 Spiro, M. E. 1982. Buddhism and society: A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes, 2nd ed., Berkeley: University of California Press. (Originally published 1970) [Google Scholar], 106f. and 112) study of Burmese Buddhism. 11. Besides mentioning the often-recited 'iti pi so' formula that describes the sa gha as an unsurpassable field of merit of this world, Gombrich does not discuss with any great detail the passages where the need to locate a virtuous recipient is discussed. Suffice it to say, however, that there are a number of passages in which the need to locate a virtuous recipient is raised. In a conversation ensuing between the Buddha and King Pasenadi, for instance, the king asks the Buddha 'Verily, where, oh venerable one, does giving result in great fruit (kattha pana bhante dinna mahapphalam'ti)?' The Buddha is purported to have responded to this questions by saying 'Giving to a person who is virtuous, oh king, bears great fruit, not to someone who lacks virtue (sīlvato kho mahārāja dinna mahapphala no tathā dussīle)'. The same sutta (Sa yutta Nikāya I.99f.) goes on by describing a worthy recipient as one who has gone forth from household life (agārasmā anagāriyam pabbajito) and who has abolished the five hindrances (nīvara ā): desire, ill-will, sloth, restlessness, and doubt. 12. These block quotes are in the original text. Although the focus of this article is Sinhalese Theravāda, it may be worthwhile to point out that Melford Spiro perceives a similar tension in regards to how Burmese Buddhists understand merit and meritorious giving. He writes, for instance, 'Monks, who frequently preach on dāna, often remind their audience that the merit derived from giving depends on this pure intention, i.e., the spiritual quality of the benefactor. For the most part, however, the Burmese have reversed this relationship between donor and recipient. For them the merit deriving from dāna is proportional to the spiritual quality of the recipient rather than that of the donor' (Spiro 1982 Spiro, M. E. 1982. Buddhism and society: A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes, 2nd ed., Berkeley: University of California Press. (Originally published 1970) [Google Scholar], 106f.). Whereas Gombrich finds the latter view pervasive among monastics and lay people, Spiro argues that that same view is more widespread among the Burmese laity. 13. I use the expression 'particular reading of the canonical and commentarial texts' because, as Freiberger (2004) notes, the Pāli canon is not oftentimes consistent and one-dimensional but represents a multiplicity of views and understandings. Some of those views will be presented below. 14. Martin Southwold (1983 Southwold, M. 1983. Buddhism in life: The anthropological study of religion and the Sinhalese practice of Buddhism, Dover, N.H.: Manchester University Press. [Google Scholar], 182) levels a similar critique against Gombrich's study of Sinhalese Buddhism when he, in making reference to Gombrich's tendency to view beliefs as primary and practices as derivatives, writes: 'The last chapter of Gombrich's book, "Conclusion", is an admirably sensitive and insightful discussion of two main tendencies in contemporary and historical Buddhism, framed largely in terms of his contrast between cognitive and affective religion. It may be that his reliance on this too easy and superficial distinction cocooned Gombrich from facing up to the real challange that the evidence, his evidence, presents, so that he states the conclusion it points to, that the voice of the people is the voice of the Buddha, not definitely, but as an extremely tentative query. Whether or not this is a case in point, the real objection to giving primacy to belief in the analysis of religion is not so much that it is ill-warranted by fact and by logic, as that it diverts us from the kind of analysis which produces better understanding' (emphasis added). 15. The role of emotions, such as joy or happiness, in Buddhist rituals or in the making merit process is discussed in Jon Walters' forthcoming publication where he compares Buddhist and theistic rituals in contemporary Sri Lanka. Despite suggesting that Buddhist-layer rituals oriented toward the Buddha are almost devoid of a type of playfulness (sellam) that characterizes rituals that focus on or deal with the gods, Walters Walters, J. S. Forthcoming. "Gods' play and the Buddha's way: Varieties of levity in contemporary Sinhala practice". In Ritual levity and Ritual play in South Asian, Edited by: Raj, Selva and Dempsey, Corinne. Albany: State University of New York. [Google Scholar] nonetheless points out that 'Sinhala literature provides a wonderfully rich vocabulary for the rarefied "happiness" (satu a) which ideally is experienced in Buddhist-layer rituals'. In an earlier publication (1997 Walters, J. S. 1997. "Stupa, story, and empire: Constructions of the Buddha biography in early post-Asokan India". In Sacred biography in the Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia, Edited by: Schober, Juliana. 160–92. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. [Google Scholar], 179f.), Walters also discusses the roles that some of these same and related emotions—laughter, delight, pleasure, satisfaction, being overjoyed, and being thrilled—have in large-scale Buddhist festivals in the early-post-Aśokan era. 16. Although the terms satu a and santō a are most commonly translated as happiness, the words encompass a range of emotions that include gladness, pleasure, contentment, and satisfaction. 17. This crass-calculus model is possibly best exemplified in Spiro's ethnographic study (1982, 112; see also 412), where he writes: 'Poor or wealthy, whether he recites from memory or from an account book, almost any villager can say to the last penny how much (and for what) he has expended on giving … It is as if each unit of dāna—however it be calculated—produces a commensurate unit of merit, so that in order to calculate one's store of merit and hence predict one's future existence, it is merely necessary to keep a cumulative account of one's giving'. 18. Even though the head monk did not make any references to specific passages 'in the teachings' where a connection between making merit and happiness is made, a cursory examination of a number of texts in the Sutta Pi aka reveals such a In one of the A guttara Nikāya for instance, we read that the of a gift by a donor that bears the best are being happy and after giving a gift In the conversation between the Buddha and King found in the Sa yutta of the Sa yutta Nikāya a similar point is also raised. In to the should dāna be (kattha kho bhante dāna the Buddha is purported to have should be where the mind is happy or kho mahārāja The term is related to Sinhala which to the Pāli and and or 1998 1998. and ed., S. and [Google Scholar], For instance, in his article 'The Buddhist and the of Buddhist Freiberger Freiberger, The Buddhist canon and the canon of Buddhist of the of Buddhist [Google Scholar], argues through a discussion of the of the in the Pāli canon that texts in contrast to the a rich for current scholarship interests (such as the of practice and … the of the canon as being and … is to a the of a out by early of In terms of making merit, Freiberger points out that canonical texts much more and of the than those by earlier who have the to the and of the of their do not the that the best recipient by of the Buddhist monk or the of the sa gha as a field of merit that by Gombrich also points out that the relationship between the by which is commonly their and of and the of merit from a is something that is also out in the canonical texts. In the Sa yutta Nikāya for instance, we read how gifts to a who his who has seen and who has or the of and who has bears great fruit In the as we read that gifts to a person from and bears great Although the focus of this article is on Sinhalese Buddhism, it is pointing out a similar conclusion that Spiro based discussions with his Burmese He writes for instance, for the of Burmese merit deriving from dāna is proportional to the spiritual quality of the recipient rather than that of the It is for this primarily that as we the of their (Spiro 1982 Spiro, M. E. 1982. Buddhism and society: A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes, 2nd ed., Berkeley: University of California Press. (Originally published 1970) [Google Scholar], In a chapter, Spiro (1982 Spiro, M. E. 1982. Buddhism and society: A great tradition and its Burmese vicissitudes, 2nd ed., Berkeley: University of California Press. (Originally published 1970) [Google Scholar], discusses what he by view the of merit from is proportional to the of the recipient. some Burmese … so as to say the fact that he a no merit is by giving to an This is a but agrees that the the purity of the i.e., the his of the the the merit to the the same however, L. The of The new Buddhism in Sri Lanka, University of Press. [Google Scholar], also the by how lay people, in their to a of merit, often little about the quality of the 'The merit, by or is the if the monk is lay to the of monks of for of any monk will having to a virtuous monk is a in the merit-making The only is that the monk is his being It thus the monk is for the lay for merit, or the monk does the in the monk is the which the monk is respect is that the monk can be the of or at an respect is to the monk at but critique is I my statement by that of the lay people of only one of a of Buddhist I should note in that my own view from my conversations with a of is that the of the of Sri Lanka is by no by the This for instance, concerned as he is about having his by a of and was much more about more For instance, when I him which type of or he be a of if he had to he saying a one goes to an then one can become is for goes to a and in this do These monks people a) about their the and service by the people in a rituals and preach a) … these the As a the will be In the like that an the monks it is for oneself For study of toward the see F. through The case of the in Theravada Buddhist [Google Scholar], F. and A study of in Theravada Buddhism and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Buddhism in Sinhalese Berkeley: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], and of in Edited by: [Google Scholar], for Sri Lanka, see J. Buddhist Buddhist A study of monastic in Thailand, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], and J. merit and University Press. [Google Scholar], after the food to the the a of the dāna and it to the Buddha The people bringing to the in that which are by one of the monks, the and the five The monk commonly gives a oftentimes about the merit with giving. This ritual, which has in the is discussed in in and L. and of Sri Lankan [Google Gombrich Gombrich, R. A new of the Pali Society, [Google and Gombrich and (1988 Gombrich, R. and 1988. Buddhism in Sri Lanka, University Press. [Google Scholar]). the this did not my of which or would be a of he to only one. like the this an for the and my monks one to one and their is I can have the I can be is what I are to other people with It is only about is what In one of my discussions with the the of faith also to the acts of should not only be accompanied by of happiness in the heart, but also with of faith While I found the connection between happiness in the heart and faith to be quite I was to find that in the to the happiness is as a for faith and in the being also having faith The references to these two texts are in study This is quite different from what found in his study of the where of and said to be of or of faith and joy and that of in the mind are said to one's or The of practice: and in Buddhist of the of [Google Scholar], The of practice: and in Buddhist of the of [Google Scholar], writes that and are as in and What the conversations with lay Buddhists and monastics however, is that of what in happiness and faith are largely one's one's and it is through the relationship that between a of monastics and their lay that about what constitutes a or is discussed and of this the from after Even though this is one of the 10 on monks and from one where I often in the Even though I this to be a practice in Sri Lanka, I was to find that when I to lay of this about many of them found no with after in several of the to the to the monastics In my conversations with them, no feeling toward the after was this It I found the head monk had discussed with the how important it is for to in the on how the head monk the views about what constitutes behavior a of Buddhism, a head monk from a after mentioning how his own to monastics or the head monk there made people understand that it is for the to in the The has are a of people who are said to be a of the as a in the Pali canonical texts Majjhima Nikāya A account of is in P. of Pali proper and [Google Scholar], on the connection between happiness in the heart and a the think monk who is monk should to the people, with a head and are not that concerned with his is what people to be is their When it is not a in their While the how the states to the of the to merit, some for example, that the of dāna need to cultivate proper states and when and after about how the thoughts of the affect the merit, one who the sa gha at the of give us food after having a of Some may give us their own Some may give us food only food it is for us think food is this food is not when we should not the or food as good or we the food like we would of thoughts would that are not and in affect the person who is the food to if we in the and do nothing or any of after the food of the we will As a the donor who us the food will less In to the monastics are to their to a of two or a that most Buddhists in contemporary Sri Lanka would find quite to this, is the view that emotions and of had no in early Buddhism. This point is well in and emotions in South Asian Buddhism. of the of of , [Google Scholar], where he to the of in South Asian Buddhist is the tendency to with of and to such as with early Buddhism … to this which is to to the Buddha and as to lay Buddhists who could not or would not to the ideal of emotional that the Buddha's original This view that of is not of early Buddhism is exemplified in Gombrich's Gombrich, R. 1988. Theravada A from ancient to [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] Buddhism (1988 Gombrich, R. 1988. Theravada A from ancient to [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], where he, in the that Buddhism in the following the Buddha's writes between no other than and in the is It to that Buddhist lay as we it was what he the a of his I that it was not the Buddha's I would like to thank Jonathan Walters for me this more